David Shaheen, managing director and group head & William Hageman, exec director, JPMorgan’s Entertainment Industries Group

Dealmakers Impact Report 2012: Financiers

JP Morgan, which traces trace its Hollywood lending back to the silent films of the 1920s, has been involved in a striking number of the deals described on these pages. Its Entertainment Industries Group, led by Shaheen, has $10 billion in credit facilities in place, with key players on its 15-member exec team that include Hageman, Jason Sklar and Victoria Aparece. In 2012 alone, it arranged over $5 billion in financing for the industry. “I think there have been some permanent changes to the industry and the way it operates (in recent years), most of them for the better,” Shaheen says. “The economics of making new content and distributing is about as strong as we’ve seen it in a long time.” JP Morgan served as lead bank on Lionsgate’s $800 million revolving credit facility and its $500 million acquisition of Summit Entertainment, MGM’s $500 million revolving credit facility, Legendary Pictures’ $150 million second lien facility, Hemisphere Partners’ $100 million investment in four major franchise movies for Sony and Paramount, and Village Roadshow’s $1.1 billion refinancing of its credit facilities (with Rabobank). For DreamWorks Animation, it advised on its $165 million acquisition of Classic Media from Boomerang Media Holdings and served as lead bank on its $400 million revolving credit facility. As lead bank on DreamWorks Studios’ $350 million revolving credit, it helped secure $200 million-plus in second-round financing for live-action films from India’s Reliance. JP Morgan also raised equity capital and provided debt financing for Entertainment One’s acquisition of Alliance Films in Canada.